August 9, 1985. It’s the cold war, and the Berlin Wall is years away from falling. It is the 40th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan by the USA. U.S. President Ronald Reagan has announced a “Star Wars” initiative that would destroy enemy missiles before they land and do harm. Canadians hold strong views about whether to participate in the development of Star Wars. And an 18 year old young man by the name of Jamie Lefcoe (founder and president of Students United for Nuclear Sanity) is the in-studio guest of Radio 98’s Wayne McLean Hotline. Lefcoe’s group is against missile testing, and the arms race. McLean asks his callers: “Was it right for the USA to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and on Nagasaki?”, and “Should Canada be involved in Ronald Reagan’s Star Wars Program?”.

Lefcoe’s position is that Canada should not participate in Star Wars, that mutual disarmament is the way to go, and that it is irrelevant which side (USA versus the USSR) is worse. To him, the USSR’s communist philosophy and totalitarian nature is not the issue, and does not matter. Over the course of the two hour program, three Freedom Party members call in to the show: Gord Mood, Robert Metz, and Marc Emery. London West’s MP, Tom Hockin (PC) also calls in.

AUDIO – DESCRIPTION:
In 1984, Ontario’s public secondary schools were government-funded (i.e., tax-funded) in all grades, but Catholic schools were government-funded only up to grade 10. Beyond grade 10, a tuition had to be paid by the parents of students attending grades 11 through 13 at a Catholic secondary school. In June of 1984, Ontario Premier Bill Davis reversed his party’s long-standing opposition to full funding for Catholic schools: he proposed funding grades 11 through 13, beginning in September of 1985 with grade 11, adding grade 12 in 1986 and grade 13 in 1987. Catholic schools – which were private – would be turned into government schools. By August 2, 1985, an Ontario provincial general election had resulted in the ouster of the PCs (for the first time in 42 years). The province now was governed by David Peterson’s Liberals.

Peterson decided to go ahead with full funding for Catholic secondary schools, starting in September 1985. So, on August 2, 1985, talk radio host Wayne McLean (AM980, London, Ontario, a.k.a. CFPL AM, a.k.a. Radio 98) invited George McLintock (Coalition for Public Schools) and Ken Regan (London and Middlesex Catholic School Board) – opponents on the issue of full funding for Catholic schools – in-studio to address the question: “Do you support full funding for Catholic schools?”. As usual, McLean took calls from his listeners. Freedom Party president Robert Metz was among them and explained that both McLintock and Regan were on the same side: the anti-freedom side.